Archive for September, 2014

74% of Irish tourism businesses are upbeat about their 2014 performance with business sentiment at a level not seen since 2007 according to the latest Fáilte Ireland Tourism Barometer which was published today.

The Fáilte Ireland Tourism Barometer is a survey of tourism businesses designed to provide insight into tourism performance for the year to date and prospects for the remainder of the season or coming year. It has been conducted regularly since 1999. Continue reading »

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-T.S. Eliot
Finally. I picked the blackberries. I have no less than ten thorny incisions on my violet-stained fingers to prove it. In Geoffrey’s words, I’ve more than earned a brave brambleberry scout badge. Continue reading »

I wish I could just press a pause button.
I look at the boys and I think that this is the best age. The 2-year-old is so much fun. He’s great at getting what he wants, especially if it involves tickles or kisses. He’s transforming from my precious miracle into a little man; and while it fills me with so much pride to see him growing up, I want to bottle him up. I often say he has just two speeds: Awake and Asleep. Continue reading »

Travel is good for the soul- that’s what they say and after spending eight weeks traveling through Italy last year I can whole-heartedly agree. I was there filming a series called Grandma’s Boy for FOX International. The premise of the show was that I would learn classic Italian recipes from the queens of the Italian kitchen, the grandmothers, the nonnas! Every three days we would travel to a new town, meeting a new nonna and learning classic dishes specific to the region. Continue reading »

This simple but delicious hearty seafood risotto still stands out as one of the most memorable dishes I tasted. It’s simplicity is key and the savoury taste of the sea from plump mussels is injected into grains of arborio rice cooked until tender with sweet tomatoes and herbs. Continue reading »

At this time of year, sweet and sticky figs are smack bang in season and if you can stop yourself eating them just as they are, this cake is a great way to show them off. Gently spiced with texture and flavour from flaked almonds, the cake comes together with a drizzle of sweet and floral honey. Continue reading »

Porchetta can be made with either pork belly or a shoulder of pork. Both benefit from a slow cooking process that results in tender meat and crispy crackling. Serve with steamed vegetables, mashed sweet potato or salad leaves dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Continue reading »

Lasagne is one of those classic Italian dishes which has made a name for itself across the world with a rich meat sauce, layers of creamy white sauce, pasta and cheese, it’s hard to resist. I was excited to come across this lighter version made with green beans, potatoes and flavoured with basil pesto. Continue reading »

Take the kids to lunch and relax. Where? At the Cork International Hotel at the airport.

For the past three weeks, their buffet lunch has been up and running. Kids are catered for on the menu and, when they have wolfed down the food, they can move to the adjacent play room, a large and well equipped area, equipped with everything from soft toys to big screens for games. Continue reading »

Join us tonight for our latest social media event, namely our #MyMug Twitter Party extravaganza to celebrate one of our favorite food and drink holidays, National Coffee Day. Brought to you by Chew on That and our sister publication, Recipe4Living.com, the event is already shaping up to be a smash. It will be co-sponsored by the wonderful folks at @iCoffee. And when these people show up for a party, they invariably come bearing some amazing gifts. Continue reading »

In a small kitchen, on the oldest terrace in Cork city, with much perspiration and no little inspiration, Head Chef Kate Lawlor works the magic for her many customers at No. 5 Fenn’s Quay. Both Kate and the building in which she operates are Cork treasures.

And what it is this exotic material that she turns to culinary gold? Nothing exotic at all, in fact. Continue reading »

It’s the sense of energy that is my lasting impression from visiting the BrewDog brewery: a relentless dynamism and a restless drive towards change and improvement in all things. I’m used to breweries as being cold and quiet spaces but BrewDog is hot and – with two simultaneous bottling lines running – very loud. The brewhouse is enormous but densely packed with brewkit, the fermentation vessels spilling beyond the walls and roof into the back yard. Continue reading »

“Uncle Charles chose the path of greatest resistance.” So said Peter Gordon, CEO of William Grant & Sons, last week at the launch of their new Tullamore Distillery. He was recalling a trip with Charles Gordon around Ireland to assess possible locations for the distillery that would supply their Tullamore Dew brand. There were suitable sites, and then there was Tullamore, boggy underfoot and lacking a rather essential ingredient: water. Continue reading »

Funny how the time slips by so fast, isn’t it? One minute you are walking along minding your own business and the next minute you are wham! head over heels in love with a man who is just not that in to you.

Well, at least not until you got him drunk on Irish coffees and kept him that way until he succumbed to your wildly Irish ways.

19 years later … he is still here by my side, cooking and feeding our family with so much more than food. Continue reading »

I absolutely love South East Asian recipes and I have been making these Thai Fish Cakes for years. They are incredibly easy to prepare and make a great starter or perfect finger food. Over on my youtube channel I have just stuck up a video on how to make them. I hope you’ll give them a go, so head over, take a look and make sure to subscribe!

The South China Morning Post confirmed its story earlier this week that a noodle shop owner in the Chinese provincial capital of Xi’an had confessed to Chinese police that he had been secretly including a paste made of poppy pods into his menu items. The article reports that the restaurant owner did so in the hopes of making his customers addicted to his noodles. The owner was subsequently detained by local authorities. Continue reading »

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Every cook we know loves their iPad (or lusts after one) for clipping, reading and cooking from online recipes right in the kitchen. Well, Clickcase.ie has what may be the ultimate kitchen gadget for iPad lovers: the Speck Handyshell slots around your iPad 2 so it can be hung from any rack, drawer or cabinet knob, keeping your iPad at eye level and safe from spills and mess. Genius!

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This November The Great Irish Bake is back and Kitchen Hero Donal Skehan is helping out with sharing recipes and promoting the event. The Great Irish Bake is in aid of helping sick and seriously ill children get the treatment they need. Head over to The Great Irish Bake to register online and be in the chance of winning a trip to New York when you help raise funds for Temple Street Children’s University Hospital. The site also has hints, tips, recipes and all that goes with an event like this.

This is the Facebook for The Great Irish Bake and of course the Twitter hashtag is: #thegreatirishbake

The Great Irish Bake organisers have shared a recipe with us and also a picture of Donal Skehan with his kids from his first marriage. Some of this might be a lie.

The Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. In a standalone mixture beat together the butter and sugar. Add in the egg and
mix through.
3. Using a wooden spoon mix through the flour, baking powder, salt, mixed spice
and vanilla extract until you have a biscuit dough.
4. Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and roll out to about 1cm in thickness.
5. Cut out biscuit shapes, place on the lined baking tray, then using a smaller cutter
or a small knife cut out the center of each cookie.
6. Sprinkle the crushed sweets into the centre of the cookie and place in the oven
7. Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before transferring to a wire
wrack.

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